Melissa Averinos’ favorite things about being an artist include experimenting and playing and making things. She’s always in experiment mode and she says it’s really fun. Melissa grew up on Cape Cod where she has always collaged and painted with abandon. She paints, writes and illustrate craft books. She also designs quilting fabric, makes quilts and offers longarm quilting services. She still lives on Cape Cod with her adorable husband and Max, their golden retriever puppy. Melissa is a craft book author/illustrator, longarm quilter, good listener, fabric designer, painter, and lover of strawberry rhubarb pie. She also loves unicorns, rusty metal and gardening. Melissa creates art and quilts all sorts of beautiful things from a studio in her old house and she shares them with her viewers. The artists who have influenced her include Sarah Fanelli, Maira Kalman, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Frida Kahlo. In quilting and painting her process is the same. She doesn’t draw things out in advance but just starts and lets things develop on their own. In the process she course corrects as needed. She says it’s a process of discovery instead of forcing something to happen. What inspire and trigger her creative process are random books. Generally just sitting down and starting to play with color on canvas or paper works miracles for her. She doesn’t get blocked much because she usually just starts and sees what happens. Framed Melissa Averinos art are a common sight in many buildings, galleries and museums around the world.